


Broken Bonds

by Misogi



Series: Goodbye Precious Trickster AU [1]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Based off of what me and two others came up with in the discord server at 3 am, Canon What Canon, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, November 20 Interrogation (Persona 5), Police Misconduct, This is the angst train toot toot, Very little Akeshu in the first chapter, but if I continue, there will be more pieces of it scattered
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:47:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23707123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misogi/pseuds/Misogi
Summary: Akechi went to the interrogation room expecting to kill Akira Kurusu. Things don't go to plan, well, not in the way he wanted it to.(3 am Discord Angst Blame them lol.)
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Series: Goodbye Precious Trickster AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1714327
Comments: 6
Kudos: 93





	1. Chapter 1

Goro Akechi's first clue that something was not going according to plan was when he reached the floor where Akira Kurusu, _Joker_ , was being kept and found no guard at the door. Didn't Shido say..? Well, whatever, it pays to be prepared after all. He didn't make it this far in life relying on others.

_You relied on the Phantom Thieves,_ A traitorous part of him, Robin Hood, whispered not unkindly, _It wasn't so bad then, was it?_

The detective grit his teeth, choosing to ignore his persona in favor of opening the interrogation room door, and immediately froze.

Working with Shido, _for_ Shido, had exposed him to a lot of unsavory things and methods, and Akechi had known that the cops sent to interrogate Joker, _Akira a softer part of him says instead_ , but he didn't quite realize how far they'd go.

Needles littered the floor, empty of whatever drugs they may have housed at one point; a dented bucket is thrown to the side of the room, explaining the light red _water_ running to his shoes and soaking...

"...Akira?" Someone asked softly, hesitantly. It took Akechi a second to realize that that someone was him. Why did he sound like that? Like a kid who had just found his mom-

Akira Kurusu aka Joker, the indomitable leader of the Phantom Thieves, was laying on the ground. He was battered and bruised and there was a disconcerting amount of darker red _water_ around him. _**That's not water,**_ Loki hissed from his dark space in his mind, his tone displeased and a bit urgent.

Belatedly, Akechi realized he had been frozen in place, staring, and willed his legs to move, to go to the other boy's side. He had patched himself up after a bad Metaverse run before, how hard could it be to patch Kurusu up?

~~_Later, he'd realize that he stood no chance. There weren't even bandages in the room._ ~~

"Kurusu? Akira, wake up." He was still, too still. Why was he so still? Fuck, what happened to Akira's fingernails? His leg was bent too far to be healthy too, _**he was going to kill those policemen**._  
  
_He's barely breathing, but he's alive,_ Robin Hood told him quietly, bringing Akechi's attention to the barely there throb of Akira's pulse in his neck, painfully aware that it was too weak to be healthy. It gave him a rush of relief all the same.

"If he's alive then it's not too late," He muttered to himself, shaking Akira gently against his own better judgement, despite Robin Hood's rumbling pity flooding through their bond, "He can still be helped, shut _up_."

"...'kechi..?" It was a weak rasp, but it could have been the best thing Akechi could have ever heard, making his heart skip and restart.

"Akira? Hey, can you look at me? ...Please?" He didn't like how high his voice was, fuck, how was Kurusu suppose to rely on him if he didn't get his act together?

The shaggy head of hair lulled to look towards him feebly, but once Akira's eyes rested on him, he almost wanted to scream or rip them out. _Or find those police officers and rip **them** apart._ Akira's eyes were foggy, likely from whatever drugs they pumped him with, but just enough awareness to have just enough of that Joker sharpness. Instead of looking accusatory though, they were filled with a sort of soft sadness.

"...'kechi...sorry-" He dissolved into a fit of pitiful coughs, not enough strength in him to combat the fluid and swelling in his mouth. Akechi turned him on his side carefully to try to help.

He tried to suppress the anger towards himself and those who hurt _soft-hearted_ Akira, instead focusing on what he was saying, "Why are you apologizing to me, you idiot?! This is- this is my fault!" He hissed, all pretense of pleasant detective prince gone, left only a boy who doesn't know how to fix the _only person worth saving-_

"No," Akira's tone was firm, leaderlike for a moment, despite sounding like he was gargling glass shards and simultaneously speaking through water as he wheezed.

"Not...your...fault. Wanted to...save you..." Akechi gave a bark of a laugh at that, no humor in it. Fucking bleeding heart Kurusu, gotta fix everyone, doesn't he?  
  
"Shut up. I'm...I'll get you out of here." Even though he said that, he faltered on where to put his hands, everywhere he could see looked bruised and he was terrified of what it was like where he couldn't see. He didn't want to hurt the other boy any more than he already has.

Kurusu just gave a pained smile, which looked more like a grimace with the swelling, "...promise me..."

" _Shut up,_ _Akira-_ "

"Promise...to- live for...for me. Take your future back, Goro...stop being alone..." _Why did this boy never shut up-?!_

"If I say yes, will you _shut up_ and let me save you?!" He hissed back, desperation leaking in his tone. Akira smiled gently, like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, and nodded with a wince, "Okay fine, yes. I promise to try to tolerate your weird friends, okay? I need t-to call-"

One soft shuddering breath, and Akira's eyes slid shut; and after one last hacking wheeze, he fell still. Akechi's heart sank like a rock, because no, _no_ Akira can't be-

_I am Thou, Thou art I_  
_Thou Hast turned a vow into a blood oath._  
_Thy bond shall become the wings of rebellion and break the yoke of thy heart._  
_Thou hast awakened to the ultimate power of the Fool, granting thee infinite power..._

Something in him _snapped_ and wrenched free, but just at the same time, a third presence in his head made itself known. A comforting being, like Robin Hood, but darker, reminding him of Loki.

What the fuck.

_Hello, Trickster._ Arsene greeted calmly, baffling him through the numbness starting to set in.

He couldn't focus on that yet, because Akira was...seriously hurt and needed to be taken to a hospital because there's no way he could be _dead_.

Akechi felt his mind stutter on the word in regards to Akira. Sure, he had come here with the express purpose of killing him, but at least his death would've been faster, Akira wouldn't have _suffered needlessly_.

Of course, now is the time that the door to the room opened, revealing Sae Nijima, who took one look at the boys on the ground; Akira Kurusu, laying there deathly still, and Goro Akechi kneeling next to him, silent tears on his face.

"What the-"


	2. Chapter 2

This day _sucked_ , Goro decided.

After tentatively explaining why he had been hovering over Akira's- over _Akira_ ; he enlisted Sae's help to essentially smuggle the other boy out of the station. Nijima clearly had not been pleased at the idea of putting a dead body in her car, but she clearly knew they couldn't use anything else.

Goro sat in the back with him, the thief's head in his lap. He use to wonder how Akira's hair felt, if it was as fluffy as it had looked. Now it was crusted with blood and other fluids, and Goro felt his simmering rage boil a little bit higher, like a kettle starting to whistle. Regardless, he threaded his gloved fingers through his hair as gently as possible with all the knots and clumps, despite that Akira couldn't feel it anymore.

Arriving in the back roads of Yongen-Jaya, Akechi felt his throat seize up in momentary panic. _He wasn't ready._ Maybe if he sat here, in Sae's car, he could pretend Akira's chest was moving. That he was just sleeping. He could feel Loki's disgusted huff from the back of his mind, instinctively rejecting the lie as his shoulders slumped.

No matter how long he sat in this blasted car, none of that would be true, and he'd have to face the music eventually.

Fuck, he'd never be able to go back to Leblanc again, would he? Sojiro Sakura was going to kill him if he ever showed his face again after this. _He'd-_

Goro Akechi was snapped out of his thoughts by a knock on the window by Akira's feet, the owner of the hand belonged to the cafe owner he had just been thinking of. Next to him was Sae, _he hadn't even seen her leave the car?_

Swallowing thickly, Akechi attempted to pull the fracturing remains of his public mask back over his face before unbuckling himself and leaving the car.

"Sakura-san, thank you for meeting us-" Goro began, cheerful tone at odds with his cracking vocal cords and the serious situation. Thankfully, he was saved by a disapproving look and a sternly said "kid" from the older man.

As relieved as he was to stop talking, the clear disapproval made his veins turn to ice and his stomach to sink to his feet even as he hated himself more for letting it effect him this much.

Luckily for him, Sojiro was more interested in peering in the car window at the body of his ward. Instantly he looked twenty years older as his shoulders hunched in guilt and his face took on a sad, tired look.

"Damnit kid...I thought I told you to run from fights you couldn't win..." He muttered before sighing and running a hand down his face, "...Help me get him into my car, and then we'll have a talk about what happened."

* * *

Sitting in Leblanc again after everything that had happened was...weird, Goro decided. He kept his eyes on the cup of coffee in front of him, trying to keep himself from glancing over at the stairs, half-expecting Akira to just walk down as always and give him a cheesy line delivered with that classic _Joker_ glint in his eye and Morgana yowling about _no_ _flirting in front of him!_

But he won't. And Akechi was stalling for time. Because Sae didn't know what was really going on, and he didn't want to see the anger in Sakura's kind eyes when he finally told his side of everything.

"...-I honestly am as confused as you, Sakura-san. I tried to go down to the interrogation room to question Kurusu-kun, but I was turned away quite firmly. By the time I got permission to go down and question him from my supervisor, the guards were gone and Kurusu-kun was...dead." He tuned back in to Sae shaking her head with a faraway look, her gaze sharpened again as it landed on him, wicking him of energy as his posture slumped. 

His gaze slowly slid back to his cup, catching on the stairs on the way. If he focused, he could see his past self going down them a few days ago, face flushed with a goofy smile that only Akira seemed to be able to pull from him; Akira trailing after him, half-heartedly trying to convince him to stay the night. _Boss won't mind,_ He had tried, eyes crinkling up in silent laughter, a grin on his face. Akechi remembered flicking his gaze between those lips and his charcoal eyes half hidden behind glasses, ' _A-ah, no it wouldn't be appropriate.' 'To have a friend sleep over? Come on, Akechi...'_

"...-kechi? Kid!" He jolted back to the present, wide eyes snapping over to Sojiro, who was now standing in front of him on the other side of the counter, frown deepening.

"I...apologize," He squeaked out, feeling like his chest was too tight, "What...was the question?"

Sojiro's searching look didn't make him feel better, the pity that he knew would vanish soon.

"Kid, you...okay to talk about that happened?"

He wasn't. Akechi crumpled a bit further, hating himself a little more for showing weakness, but Arsene rumbled comfortingly from his spot in his mind and that warmed his chest just the tiniest bit.

"Ah...yes. Forgive me as I...arrange my thoughts." Taking a deep breath, he stared down at the murky darkness in his cup, "Akira...was alive when I got down there. He was in a very bad state, I couldn't...He-" Akechi's voice cracked, and he squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn't talk about it that way. Taking a different approach, he shoved the tears and emotion down down _down,_ where it wouldn't bother him. 

"The guard was already gone, which was strange since that hadn't been part of the plan." He picked back up, voice flat, making Sojiro and Sae jump a bit from where they had started to whisper in his silence.

"The plan?" Sojiro rumbled, expression darkening. Akechi had known the kind man wasn't an idiot.

"Yes, the plan. I...work for someone that used the Phantom Thieves to further his goals, and the next step was to have the leader commit 'suicide' in custody. The plan had been..." He hesitated, the weight of the silencer in his inner pocket seemed to double and burn through his shirt like a brand, "I was to go to the interrogation room, get the gun from the mole of a guard, dispose of the guard and kill Ak-...Kurusu."

With another deep breath, he pulled the silencer out, something like relief washing over him momentarily as he was freed of the damning object. As he placed it on the counter, the relief turned to dread as Sae gasped and Sojiro flinched.

"What?! That's...who would order such a thing? Why would you think that you'd get away with it in the police headquarters?!" Sae demanded, expression stormy.

"They're all corrupt," Akechi laughed humorlessly, clutching his coffee as if he expected it to be taken away from him, "And if you don't remember, the _police_ are the ones that _beat him to death_ , Sae-san."

"...So you're some kind of teenage hitman?" Sojiro asked bluntly, tone less than impressed, "You expect me to believe that?"

"I don't care what you believe. It's the truth," He let his tone drop, feeling Arsene rumble comfortingly in his mind to _Relax, Trickster; they will not harm you._

He sucked in a sharp breath, still not use to the new Persona, though he shook his head at the guarded questioning gazes at his odd behavior.

"Would you really have killed him?" Sae asked from the booths behind him, sounding almost lost.

"Yes," He hissed, _No_ another part of him cried, " _Yes,_ I would have killed him."

"Hmpt. I don't believe you," Sojiro huffed, shaking his head as the teen's gaze snapped to him, "I have eyes, kid. You're doing no one any favors, let alone yourself, lying."

"I would've," Akechi spat, eyes burning with _~~tears~~_ anger, "I've killed before. Some _attic trash_ wouldn't be that hard."

Sojiro wasn't impressed. Akechi looked away, too tense now and blinking hard.

"...Who do you work for."

"I...can't tell you," Akechi ground out, trying to ignore how control over his voice was starting to fray.

"Can't or won't, kid?"

"I _can't._ He's-...not someone to cross," Akechi trembled a bit. He chose to ignore it, "You have seen what happens when someone becomes a problem."

"Look," Sojiro sighed heavily, taking his glasses off to wipe his eyes wearily, "We can't help you if we don't know who we're up against." 

"What?" Goro asked with a halfway panicked laugh, feeling how wild his eyes must look as he looked at the cafe owner, "You can't be serious."

"Kid, if this guy is using a teenager to kill people like you say, and used you to kill another teen, he's not going to stop at just Akira," He ever present frown deepened, "I...haven't protected my kids like I should've; but I'm going to be dead before that asshole gets Futaba or the rest of Akira's friends for that matter."

"And that includes you too," Sojiro pointed sternly at the baffled teen, "You and him were close; don't think I don't know he had sleepovers sometimes. He is...was such a troublemaker." His voice dropped off to a wistful tone, eyes gliding up towards the ceiling.

The cafe was silent for a minute, tension heavy in the air, before Sojiro sighed again and fixed Akechi with a look that made him straighten up instinctively.

"Listen, I'm grateful you got Akira out of there, and I'm not going to stress over what-ifs that never happened. You were there with him, and I'm sure that...meant the world to him. If you want to make up 'what could've happened' to him, tell us your employer, and let the adults handle it...like we should've been."

"I...-" Akechi hesitated, looking away, but was cut off by Sojiro again.

"Are you in immediate danger?"

"What?" He asked, perplexed. 

"Are you in danger from your employer considering that you didn't...do your job?" Sojiro asked, eyes sharp.

"No sir. The leader of the Phantom Thieves is dead, and that's...all he wanted," Akechi thought about it, letting himself plan ahead, "I'm not in danger of being disposed of...yet."

"Good. I need to...take care of the kid," Sojiro seemed to age years at the statement, rubbing his eyes again as he took his apron off and grabbed his keys, "Let's meet up here tomorrow. Both of you."

"That's fine with me. I need to know what is going on; justice must be done." Sae Nijima nodded, picking her bag back up, turning her gaze to her coworker as she pursed her lips, "Akechi...would you like a ride home?"

"I...no thank you," He answered tightly, getting off his stool stiffly.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow before I come here. Does afternoon work for you, Sakura-san?" She asked to her left, all business again.

"Yeah, that's fine. Don't worry about customers, I'll close for our talk. You better show up, Goro Akechi. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir," He gritted his teeth so hard his jaw started to ache, but he bowed to the owner, catching sight of the silencer on the counter still. Grimacing, he grabbed it, shoving it back in his jacket.

As he left the cafe, and parted ways with Sae Nijima and Sojiro Sakura, he concluded;

Today fucking sucked for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the kudos and bookmarks, and for even dropping by! Comments are my lifeblood btw. ;3
> 
> Chapter two is done! Whoo! Poor Sojiro; gotta go bury his pseudo son. Then he's gotta go find out who ordered the hit on the pseudo son.
> 
> Thanks for dropping by again! I have a few more ideas for this AU, and a way to incorporate this into third semester fun in Royal; but first I gotta finish getting Goro to punching a god. So, I'll try to keep motivated!


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